When your political career is built on chants of “lock her up,” questioning Mexicans, Muslims, “shithole countries,” refusing to condemn white supremacists, calling women “fat” and “horseface,” ridiculing opponents and smirking at Gold Star families and POW’s, while encouraging your supporters to throw punches and shout obscenities at the press, it may appear a little too late for Donald Trump to be calling for “national unity.”
That’s what Trump did today, saying the “full weight” of the federal government is seeking to find and punish those responsible for building and sending explosive devices to current and former Democratic lawmakers.
“The safety of the American people is my highest … priority,” he said, adding that top explosives experts are examining each device.
Trump — who routinely calls Democrats, an “angry mob” and “evil” — then called for national unity.
“I just want to tell you that in these times, we have to unify. We have to come together and send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message that acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America,” said Trump.
Former President Barack Obama, 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Democratic mega-donor George Soros, former Democratic National Committee chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Rep. Maxine Watters, D-Fla., and CNN all received suspicious packages.
The threatening packages come weeks before the midterm elections and at a time of historic political polarization in the United States, with each major political party blaming the other for riling up supporters to the point of rage.
All of the packages appear to have been addressed to people who President Trump frequently criticizes.
The packages sent to the Clintons, Obamas and CNN appeared to have similarities, according to authorities, who seemed to be investigating whether they were sent by the same person.
White House officials have declined to address any connection between Trump’s words and any motivation behind the explosive-laden packages.
Top congressional Democrats slammed Trump’s response, saying his “words ring hollow.”
“Time and time again, the President has condoned physical violence and divided Americans with his words and his actions,” Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said in a joint statement.
The two Democratic leaders pointed to Trump’s support for Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.), who pleaded guilty to assaulting a reporter, and accused the president of supporting “dictators around the world who murder their own citizens, and referring to the free press as the enemy of the people.”
“President Trump’s words ring hollow until he reverses his statements that condone acts of violence,” Schumer and Pelosi said.
The FBI said today that it has sent five packages believed to contain explosive devices to the bureau’s laboratory in Quantico, Va., for further analysis.
In a rare public statement, the FBI described the five suspicious packages sent to CNN, former President Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats as “similar in appearance” and containing “potentially destructive devices.”
